Part 2 – Your Favicon is Bad, and You Should Feel Bad

Favicons are one of the easiest things to get right on a website – in fact, it’s one of the first things we put in while we’re building a site for a client. But all too often, organizations forget this tiny, but important detail.

If you’re wondering what a favicon is, look at the left-hand side of this tab (on your computer). Do you see the little “V”? That’s our favicon. It’s a small piece of our logo that helps you find our site among the tabs you have open.

Again, it’s a small detail – but details matter.

Let’s look at the alternatives…

No Favicon At All

A common problem we see is no favicon at all. The screenshot below shows the default globe Google Chrome assigns when they can’t find your favicon file.

Organization Removed to Protect The Guilty

This is a small detail, but details matter. Having a favicon improves the professionalism of your site and your users’ overall experience. But no favicon is not even the worst option…

Builder Favicons

The biggest red flag we see on websites is when the content management system (CMS) favicon is left up.

Though we love WordPress (.org not .com) and Clickfunnels, leaving their favicons up isn’t just sloppy, it’s dangerous.

All CMS’s have weaknesses that can be exploited. Though there are ways to figure out what CMS a website is built in, advertising it in the tab is just reckless.

Best Practices

Without going into another article on Favicon design, here’s a few pointers:

Favicons should be square (16×16 or 32×32)

Use a transparent .png, not a white background .jpg

Your favicon needs to be connected to your brand, but that doesn’t mean it should be a replica of your logo. Get in touch if you want help with the design.

How to Fix It

Every CMS is a little different in the way they handle favicons. Though we strongly recommend WordPress (.org not .com) for most organizations – choosing the right CMS is a discussion for another day.